The Chinese invented printing hundreds of years before it was
discovered in the West. Before this, books had to be copied out by
hand, which was very hard work. This page shows one of the very
earliest examples of woodblock printing, where the shape of a
letter or a picture is carved into a wooden block. This is then
dipped into ink and used to print with.

This picture was found alongside the world’s earliest dated
printed book, which is called The Diamond Sutra. The tall
man in the middle is the Buddhist king Vaishravana, the Guardian
King of the North. He is standing on the hands of the Earth
Goddess, with other gods and spirits beside him. The writing
underneath is a kind of spell, asking Vaishravana for his help.